We Predict Who Will Win the NFL MVP Award

Let's start with MVP and My, my mistake has been I've picked Joe Burrow to win the MVP every year since 2023.

Um, it's hard, you goddamn it, like you to continue doing it, but I, I like, and it's one of those things where it's gonna suck because one year I'm gonna be right.

But then they're gonna be like, yeah, you've been picking him every single year since 2023, so it doesn't really count.

But this year feels like a year that is so lined up for Burrow to just torch everybody.

And then if we're in lockstep on that, that's fine.

It's not like you have to pick another guy, but I think it's Burrow, right?

I, I, I love Burrow for this award because I think I just think that there is a, um, there's a sense of urgency there that I don't know that has existed yet.

Like, it's just that, I think the last couple of years have shown that group of players, this isn't forever.

I think the Dexter Lawrence trade.

Like amps the pressure up on everybody a little bit.

There's pressure on Al Golden now, OK.

Like we, we went and got Boye Mafe from Seattle.

We went and got Brian Cook from the Chiefs.

Those are guys that have played in Super Bowls.

Um, you're bringing in Dexter Lawrence as the centerpiece for the defense.

Um, you hope that like some young guys like Shamar Stewart and Demetrius Knight come along .

Um, and the offense should be if.

Everything's together and everything, and, and , and, and those guys stay healthy, the offense should be ridiculous again, you know.

And so, like I, I think Joe Burrow is, like, I, again, like I, I, uh, you know, I wrote this last year, you know, we'll see like whether or not Drake May can break into the group, Caleb Williams can break into the group.

We all thought that was gonna be Jaden Daniels last year.

So I think those 2024 quarterbacks, like the three of them are definitely guys to watch.

You know, but I think like if you look at the last five years, there's a very clear top four, in Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson.

Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow, and Burrow is the only one of the four that hasn't won an MVP, and I think he is very much at their level, you know, and so, um.

I, I, I'm with you.

Like now, if it's not Burrow, who else are we looking at?

Just so we make this more than just the Joe Burrow show.

I mean, I, here's my dark horse.

Follow me here.

What about Justin Herbert?

I mean, I, I, I think like with Justin Herbert, he gets the two tackles back, right?

He gets Joe Walt and Rashaw Slater back.

I think Trey Harris is a sneaky breakout candidate at receiver.

Ladd McConkie going into year 3.

You've got Amarion Hampton there now.

You've brought in David Njoku.

And the the biggest piece.

Like, to me, at least, Tyler Bioish coming in to play center, uh, the biggest piece to me is Mike McDaniel and how Mike McDaniel, I think, is going to get him playing faster, you know, and the marriage of McDaniel and Harbaugh, which by all accounts just talking to everybody who's been there, like it's been great, you know what I mean, like, and I, I had a conversation with McDaniel about this, um, cause I thought it was funny how he said publicly that Harbaugh is the most secure person he's ever been around.

You always hear about people being called insecure.

He's the, he's the most secure person I've ever been around.

And I think they're both sort of that way, and I think they, there's a good vibe there.

So, like Justin Herbert would be somebody who would be on my list for this.

Drake May is another one where, I mean, the one thing that's sort of interesting about him.

He hasn't had the same coordinator as a starter in consecutive years since high school.

So like, do we see Drake May reach another level?

I, I think all three of the 24 quarterbacks again, like the guys at the top, you can throw Nixon there if you want.

Like those guys are interesting candidates as well.

But yeah, I mean Burrow and Herbert would be the two that I would look at.

The, the problem to me with Herbert and the thing that scares me with Herbert is like, again, and, and it's just sort of cosmic, but we've been here with the Chargers.

I've been here personally with the Chargers every year since they hired Anthony Lynn as their head coach, you know, and there's something that they do in the offseason that makes so much sense and it seems so smart and it seems like it's going to work out.

And then for some reason, it doesn't .

And I want to go back to Burrow for just one second, and that's a crappy reason to say that .

I don't think it's going to be Justin Herbert, but look at this.

OK, so Joe Burrow's final 5 games of the season, he was averaging like a 73% completion percentage.

He had 2 4-touchdown games, a 3-touchdown game, 1 stinker when they got, uh, blown out by Baltimore when I don't think he was still, you know, uh, he, he didn't look 100% in that one, but played 55+ snaps in, in every single game.

Um, and, and to me, uh, and again, maybe , maybe the receiving corps ages out.

Maybe Ja'Marr Chase and T.

Higgins are a little bit past the point where they're taking over games at this point.

I don't know.

But you think that the one thing that I think that we didn't address really, Albert, is that there's a complimentary defense.

With the Bengals and an aspect of Burrow being able to play with leads and not having to score 40 points a game, but still being able to.

I don't know.

I, so I think the victories will come and that helps your MVP candidacy.

Um, but again, We've been manifesting this with Burrow as long as we've been manifesting it with the Chargers.

Maybe this is the year that one of these streaks comes to an end.

I just can't, like, preseason , this is what's difficult about it, minus tangible football, hype gets out of control to a point where like, we're imagining Mike McDaniel in this offense with.

Justin Herbert and it's like, you know, I, I think in our collective minds it's like Mike, Mike Leach at Texas Tech now and it's just not what we're doing happen there, you know what we're doing and, and this, the problem is this doesn't always work, you know what I mean, but I think what we're all doing here is we're all looking at like, OK, like Mike McDaniel took Tua.

Up here, right, like Mike, so, well, if you give him Justin Herbert, then he's gonna go up here, you know what I mean?

Like, and I, it doesn't always work out that way.

It doesn't, you know what I mean?

Like Tua, think of a good example of that.

I mean, Tua was a really good, like Tua, I don't think Tua is a great quarterback from an NFL through an NFL lens, but he's a really good fit for Mike McDaniel, you know what I mean?

Like that was.

So, like, is Justin Herbert gonna be, like, we know he's got otherworldly physical ability, he's smart, he's a good leader, all of that.

He checks a ton of boxes.

But is the fit gonna be perfect?

And that's, I think what you're looking at.

And that's, I mean, it's gonna be, it's gonna look different than it did with Tua.

You know what I mean?

Like, uh, the Mike McDaniel dynamic is different too because you had in Miami.

These like catch and run sticks of dynamite and Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill, right?

Like with Tua in, in, uh, you know, in, in LA what he's got, he's got some more.

Like bigger, taller, more physical targets, you know, so it's sort of a different look there too.

Although McConkie is , McConkiey is like kind of the catch and run guy, right?

I mean, it's sort of like, and I think we're learning our lesson here, and it's a different.

It's, it's different.

But, you know, when Kyle Shanahan drafted Trey Lance, I'm as guilty as anybody else.

When Kevin O'Connell drafted JJ McCarthy, I'm as guilty as anyone else.

We automatically think, brilliant coach, talented quarterback equals surplus of points.

That's not necessarily how this works.

We're still, and I've been talking to coaches about this a lot over the last few weeks, we're still in a defensive edge period.

You know, the NFL is cyclical, and it will come back around again, whether it's a rule change or whether it's something that gives offense the permanent advantage.

Defenses have latched on to something very real, and I don't care how good your offense is, the days of scoring 35 points a game and winning are over for now, uh, and they'll come back eventually, right?

And I think that that's the, um, That's something that we have to think about when we're talking about Mike McDaniel and and Justin Herbert.